Ready for Take Off

In less than 24 I'll be boarding my flight to Philadelphia which will then lead me overseas for four months. Shouldn't I be freaking out about now?! Oh wait, I kind of am! AAAHHHHHH!!!!

Thankfully I have finished packing, so that's one thing less to worry about. Let me tell you that packing for four months was very, very difficult and the start this adventure. At first I began by throwing every article of clothing I owned in the "going" pile. When I realized this wasn't going to work, my friend Jessica came over and forced me take out about 75% of the things I thought were essential ("No, Angie you really don't need 20 pairs of shoes and 28 dresses!"). Finally, after going back and forth about what to leave and take, I actually put everything in my suitcase and miraculously it all fit! And just so you know how difficult it was to narrow down, let me show how my room/suitcases started out :

But in the end, I managed to make it work:

So with that done, it's been a matter of preparing myself mentally to leave tomorrow. Even though I'm leaving in about 12 hours, it still hasn't really hit yet. The packing was a wake up call, but it still doesn't feel real. I will be honest though and say I have had butterflies (or possibly Hungarian Horntail dragons) flying around my stomach. I can't decide whether they're from nerves or excitement, but I'm hoping it's the latter. My Italian skills are still seriously lacking, so that's causing some anxiety. Hopefully, once I'm there it will pick up. I know that the language is only of the challenges I'm about to face in the coming months, but I am looking forward to it all. I am not expecting to come back a whole new person, but I do hope to experience everything I possibly can. My mission is go everywhere and try everything I can, in hopes that I will learn something out of it and be able to bring it back with me. I know it won't be easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.

So here I go, head first, into my adventure abroad! Ciao!